Clean water is a basic necessity for humans. While the human population grows, the demand for water grows as well. Since water is a finite resource, used water must be treated to continuously serve end-uses. This is where the importance of water treatment systems comes in.
Water treatment helps in removing contaminants and hazardous substances from the water, making it clean and safe to drink and be used for other purposes. Unfortunately, almost 2 billion people in the world use either untreated drinking water or get water from unsafe or contaminated sources. Having systems in place to improve water quality helps intervene in these situations and prevent unsafe water-caused incidents, such as water-borne diseases and fatalities.
On the other hand, water treatment is also helpful in ensuring that water gets reintroduced back to nature' s cycle. One of the end-uses of this process is to safely return water to environmental sources like rivers, lakes, and oceans. Of course, water treatment facilities must ensure that water is free from harmful substances before doing so to avoid contamination and other environmentally disastrous issues such as water pollution.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets forth guidelines for organizations for protecting the environment and human health. One of the violations that an EPA report helps keep in check regarding an organization' s compliance with environmental safety is the illegal discharge of pollutants that could end up in bodies of water. An example of this is dumping untreated and contaminated wastewater directly into the sewer system, which is a violation of the Clean Water Act.